Was the Vuvuzela invented in South Africa?

I am thrilled that the biggest controversy surrounding the FIFA World Cup in South Africa 2010 seems to be the drone of the vuvuzela in the background. For the first week or so, international broadcasters completely messed up their sound feeds by keeping up the effects microphone volumes at their “normal” levels, completely drowning out commentary and all other sounds from the ground. This led to a chorus of complaints from around the world. Then, I am guessing, someone at ITV and the BBC decided that maybe it was a good idea to speak to someone at the SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation) about how to setup the mics. SABC has, after all, about 30 years of experience in broadcasting football in South Africa, with the vuvuzela adding a beautiful (and unmistakable) background noise. It is, for me, at least, the sound of football.

But this blog entry is not about the arrogance of international broadcasters in the face of something new (after all, they first encountered the plastic trumpets over a year ago at the Confederations Cup, and hadn’t done any preparation in that year!).

What I am interested in seeing is whether the vuvuzela will be picked up elsewhere in world now. Apparently over 1.5 million have been sold in Europe. And when my girls took our one to school in London, it was a huge hit with everyone! Saudi Arabia have just banned the vuvuzela at all public gatherings, even going so far as issuing a fatwa against it. Pretty impressive that a £ 5 piece of plastic needs a “go straight to hell” warning on it.

I’m looking forward to the opening weekend of the Premier League next month.

But, there’s another issue that was raised for me recently. It came in the form a picture of an ancient scene. I had always thought that the vuvuzela was a South African invention. But this picture indicates that it has been around for a lot longer than that. See what you think: